A dark fairytale, The Crows Remember
I have a dark fairytale up at Crow & Cross Keys this weekend. It's called The Crows Remember, and it's a reprint of a story I wrote for the 52 Crows project from the illustrator Bonnie Helen Hawkins in August 2018. Here's what I said about the story in my blog post that week:
The Crows Remember is a sad story, as pretty much everyone who’s read it so far has pointed out, but I was going for fairytale/folktale and there’s often an undercurrent of sadness or something dark at the core of those so I think I found the tone I was looking for. It’s set (though I didn’t specify in the story) in Swaledale, which to me is a mysterious place populated by the shades of my ancestors, and some sheep – all of 30 miles and a couple of dales away from where I live, but when you don’t drive it’s not an easy place to visit. Unless maybe you’re fitter than I am and own a bicycle.
It's great to have this story out in the world again, it seems to have been getting some love on Twitter already - thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read it. Here's the excerpt Crow & Cross Keys chose to share on their tweets:
Next morning as she swept she saw something flutter past the open doorway, and when she went to look there was a velvet ribbon the colour of fresh blood lying on the flags. She stepped out and looked around but there was only a crow watching her, head cocked.
The Crows Remember by JY Saville
If you'd like a short excursion to a dale haunted by the beauty of the past, where wildflowers still bloom, go to https://crowcrosskeys.com/2021/04/24/the-crows-remember-jy-saville/ and if you enjoy it, you can always buy me a cuppa…
